Friday, May 6, 2011

Featured physician executive: Dr. Pawan Goyal

Pawan Goyal is the director of healthcare informatics for EDS’ U.S. Veterans Affairs portfolio and is responsible for establishing the strategic direction in areas of health informatics and enterprise business transformation for an account of over 500 professionals supporting the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). VA is globally recognized as a leader in both healthcare and in the adoption and use of electronic health records, and is the largest healthcare provider in the United States, serving 24.5 million veterans.

With more than 25 years of experience in healthcare delivery and management for large federal, state and local government contexts, Goyal has spent the last six years as senior business/functional analyst for the VA. An otolaryngologist by training, Goyal had 14 years of surgical practice in India prior to moving to the United States in 1998. As a recognized leader and subject matter expert on process re-engineering for healthcare and electronic health records interoperability, Goyal often serves as an author, panelist and public speaker in areas such as patient medical records and effective EHR institutionalization and utilization.

An active member and contributor to the healthcare industry standards community, Goyal chairs the Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CPHIMS) Self Assessment Examination Task Force and co-chairs the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Dictionary Task Force. He also serves on the board of directors for the Microsoft Healthcare User Group and the Dallas/Forth Worth Chapter HIMSS Board, and the Board of Examiners for Texas Quality Forum. In addition, Goyal was recognized with “Spirit of HIMSS” honors in 2006.

Goyal has made extensive contributions to the healthcare community, serving as a subject matter expert on Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) Interoperability Work Group and a liaison to CCHIT Functionality Work Group. He also serves on the International Standards Organization Technical Committee 215 for healthcare standards, Healthcare Leadership Alliance, eHealth Initiative’s Practice Transformation Task Force and American Health Information Management Association’s (AHIMA) e-HIM Task Force. Goyal is a senior member with HIMSS and a fellowship candidate with AHIMA.

Goyal holds a master’s of healthcare administration degree with a post graduate certificate in health policy from Ohio University and is a certified project management professional. He holds faculty appointments with VA e-Health University, DeVry University, Keller Graduate School of Management, and Collin County Community College District, and is an adviser to Bellevue Community College and Dallas Project Management Institute. An avid traveler, Goyal has widely traveled to Europe, Asia and the Americas. He lives in Plano, Texas, with his wife Niharika and two daughters, Meha and Shreya.